MISD: Many transformation opportunities available

Possible partnership with IDEA Public Schools headlines list of options

The Midland ISD board on Monday approved for the district to proceed with five recommendations, including three whole-school models. One is that Midland ISD will continue to negotiate with Idea Public Schools, which operates 79 tuition-free public schools in Texas and Louisiana.

The Midland ISD board on Monday approved for the district to proceed with five recommendations, including three whole-school models. One is that Midland ISD will continue to negotiate with Idea Public Schools,

The Midland ISD board on Monday approved for the district to proceed with five recommendations, including three whole-school models. One is that Midland ISD will continue to negotiate with Idea Public Schools, which operates 79 tuition-free public schools in Texas and Louisiana.

The Midland ISD board on Monday approved for the district to proceed with five recommendations, including three whole-school models. One is that Midland ISD will continue to negotiate with Idea Public Schools,

When it comes to Midland ISD’s Call for Quality Schools, Elise Kail, chief transformation officer, said everything is on the table.

The Midland ISD board on Monday approved for the district to proceed with five recommendations, including three whole-school models. One is that Midland ISD will continue to negotiate with Idea Public Schools, which operates 79 tuition-free public schools in Texas and Louisiana.

A request from a CQS committee asked for continued negotiations with IDEA Public Schools for a pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade campus. Opportunities to expand this partnership beyond one campus is also a recommendation. Idea isn’t currently in Midland or Odessa, although Idea Permian Basin is expected to open in 2021, according to its website.

“IDEA is open to starts in August 2020 and eventually expanding to become a K-12 campus,” according to a district report. IDEA has a reputation of quality. Four IDEA schools in the Rio Grande Valley (Brownsville, Mission, Edinburg and San Juan) are among the top 22 high schools in the state, according to U.S. News and World Report.

Which MISD campus might eventually be a home for an Idea school remains to be seen. District officials said that talks with Legacy Traditional Schools have ceased. District officials had hoped for a partnership with Legacy to turn the current Travis Elementary campus into Midland ISD’s first in-district charter. Midland ISD officials said such a large transformation likely will have to wait because the process can’t be rushed.

“We are looking at all options for supporting the students at Travis,” Kail said.

Other “whole school” opportunities in front of the school board Monday included a potential partnership with Midland College for the expansion of pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds through an in-district partnership. The recommendation may be made to the school board at the January meeting.

The Call for Quality Schools committee also sought a redesign at Coleman High School to strengthen its alternative learning environment. Coleman would be expanded into a year-round model. A target date for this recommendation is at a spring board meeting.

A “talent opportunity” in front of the board involved using Abell Junior High to develop a training center for student teachers. A “program opportunity” involves working with Solution Tree at “most at-need campuses.”

Complete design for implementation takes place in the spring, according to documents related to the school board agenda. When looking at all transformation opportunities, the district must look at what grants are available, funding options and how those changes could impact district students and staff.

“We’d like to be able to snap our fingers and make it happen,” Kail said. “But we want to make sure we are doing it right for all of our taxpayers and all the kids in the district.”